Method and apparatus for compacting fibrous material



Aug. 10, 1948. A. c. FISCHER 2,446,544

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPACTING' v FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Oct. 6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l NM 1/ l :l lll/ll ll N lll l O Aug. l0, 1948. A. c. FISCHER I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPACTING FIBROUS MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001'.. 6, 1941 Patented Aug. l0, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COM- PACTIN G FIBROUS -MATERIAL Albert c. Fischer, chicago, nl. Application october e, 1941, serial No. 413,881

l 8 Claims.

masses upon a flexible foundation.

This case is a continuation-impart of my application Serial No. 80,465, iled May 18, 1936, and issued October 7, 1941, as Patent 2,257,738.

In my Patent No. 2,243,857, June 3, 1941, a large number of products were disclosed which could be made by compacting various substances or mixtures. The present case discloses in its broad aspects apparatus suitable for forming such products. An object of the invention is to provide suitable apparatus and a suitable method for forming such product-s.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will he apparent from the following description, taken with the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view of one preferred form of this invention,

Fig. 2 ls a somewhat more detailed, though still largely diagrammatic view of the compacting unit forming a major part of this invention, some portions being broken away,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of one form of product which may be made by this invention,

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary vertical sectional views taken substantially along the lines 4 4 and 5-5 of Fig. 2,

Figs. 6 to 10 are views of modled forms of the compacting channels,

' Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view of a plunger suitable for use with the channel of Fig. 9, and

Fig. 12 is a view corresponding to a portion of Fig. 2, and showing a different embodiment of the invention which comprehends the .provision of a flexible support for the mat.

Althoughthis invention may take numerous forms, only one has been chosen for illustration, except for the modifications of channel cross section to produce different products. In thegpreferred form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 1, the apparatus includes four units. Unit A is a compacting apparatus which is illustrated more fully in Fig. 2. Unit B is a stitching machine, the details of which are not shown since such machlnes are available on the market. It is preferably'a machine which, as shown in Fig. 3, simultaneously sews stitches along a plurality of parallel lines in the sheet material which is fed through the machine; Unit C -is for applying a suitable adhesive or. surface coating, the preferred form including the combination of spray guns and squeezing or kneading rolls. Unit D isv a dryer which may be steam heated. 'Ihe sheet material may be drawn from the drying table D by feed rolls II and may be carried to any ,de-

sired point to be rolled up or cut into strips. Of

course additional feeding rolls or other feeding means may be provided wherever needed or desired.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it is seen that the compacting unit A comprises the combination of a channel I4 having the cross section of the desired product, a plunger I 6 adapted to reciprocate into and out of said channel, and feeding means for supplying straw or any other suitable material to a position in front of said plunger I6.

The plunger I6 may desirably comprise a plate which in the illustrated form is a simple flat plate for producing a flat sheet material. The plunger slides along a table top I8 which is supported by suitable framework I9. The plunger may also be guided by angle irons 2| suitablyl positioned above the plunger and preferably adjustable to permit substitution of plungers of different sizes. At the rear end of the plunger I6 may be provided one or more upstanding lugs 23 to which one or more connecting rods 2li may be pivoted. The other ends of said connecting bars are each pivoted to a suitable crank pin 2B on a crank shaft 21 which is driven by a gear 28 which in turn is driven by a pinion 29 and a wheel 30. The wheel 30 may be driven in any suitable manner as by a belt 3| and a motor 32.

The channel I4 may be formed in part by the table top I8 and in part by a top plate 38 which may be adjustably positioned between the vertical flanges of angle irons 31 which form the sides of the channel. Adjustability of the plate 36 and therefore of the cross section of the channel Il may be obtained by screws 38 screwing through suitable support members in the framework I9. Of course the bottom plate I8 and the topplate 36 may be of any desired thickness and may be reinforced atA various points and may each be made up of a plurality of separate plates. If separate plates are used for the top plate 36, these may be separately adjustable. For some purposes such an arrangement is preferred, since it is desirable to have a portion of the channel constricted to oppose the movement of the material therethrough, but it is not necessary that the whole channel be thus constructed, and in fact it is desirable for many materials that the portion of the channel in which the plunger reciprocates be of uniform cross section longitudinally so that the plunger will operate in said channel smoothly and with just enough clearance to have the desired effect. This clearance may be so slight that straw or other material is cut oi by the plunger, but when straw is used it will usually be preferred to leave enough clearance so that the loose ends of the straw will extend along the top surface of the plunger so as to nest the successive charges of straw or secure thorough intertwining and matting of the various straws. If desired, a recess may be formed in the receiving portion 39 of the table top just outside of the entrance to the channel so that loose ends of the straw will also extend along the under face oi the plunger.

The feeding apparatus may be of any illustrated form, but is illustrated as embodying a pair of wide belts 4I carried by suitable rollers 42 and 43, which latter may be driven through sprocket wheel 44, chain 45, and sprocket wheel 46 keyed on the end of crank shaft 4T or otherwise driven at a relatively slow speed. Side plates 48 may be provided at the ends of the belts 4I to retain the material on the belts and cooperate with the belts to form a hopper. Guide plates 49 may be provided below the belts in the positions shown to direct the fed material to the position where it will be picked up by the plunger and compacted. The belts 4I will rurge the material downwardly with sufficient force to insure its being caught by the end of the plunger, and if necessary a recess may be provided in the bed 39 below the level of the plunger to facilitate this action. Other feeding apparatus may be used to supply the material in special conditions, as intermeshed in a thin layer; or with the fibers all parallel. Also different materials may be fed in succession to produce a striped or variegated eiect. Or different materials may be fed continuously at different transverse positions.

The plunger IB may be provided with a plurality of pegs 50 along its front end for increasing the interlacing or nesting of the fibers and thus provide a sheet which is more rm than would otherwise result from the compacting alone. For some purposes the sheet thus resulting may need no further treatment, especially if the fibrous material supplied to the compacting unit is mixed with some adhesive or plastic material; or with any material 'which is cohesive, such for example as clay or earth.

Many materials will be somewhat elastic and after being `compacted will spring back when the plunger is withdrawn. If the expansion should be enough to be objectionable retaining bars or teeth could be inserted into the channel I4 in front of the piston as it is withdrawn.

The sheets for-med in this manner may be of any desired width and thickness, but they probably will not be over two inches thick, and usually will be much thinner than that.

From the compacting unit A the compacted sheet passes to a stitching machine B. This machine may be any conventional type stitcher. Whatever machine is used, it is preferably one which forms a plurality of parallel lines of stitches in the material fed through it. Thus, if there are eight stitching heads on the machine, the finished product will resemble that shown in Fig. 3 in which the straw or other iibers will be intertwined with one another, though extending predominantly transversely of the sheet, and these fibers will be secured together by the longitudinal lines of stitches 5I. Of'course these stitches could conceivably be applied by hand.

It may be best to keep the sheet compacted until it has been stitched, and to this end the plate 36 may be continued as-shown at 53, to or even through the stitching machine B, suitable slots being provided to permit the stitching machine to operate. I

Beyond the stitching machine the sheet may be treated with any cementitious material or an adhesive such as any suitable glue or with any coating material such as shellac, paint, varnish, plaster, or the like. Such materials may be applied in any suitable way. as by running the material through a loop extending down into a vat or by spraying it with spray guns 6I which may be supplied from suitable compressed air and treating material through headers 62. From the spray guns 6I the sheet may be passed between squeezing and kneading rolls 64. Any loose material such as mineral granules or bers, or vegetables or animal material, or iilingsfor electrolytic deposits may be applied as by sprinkling on an adhesive or cementitious undercoat.

The sheet may finally be dried in any suitable manner as by passing it over a drying rack 61 provided with any suitable heating means such as steam pipes 68.

In some instances it may be desired that the fibers should not be intertwined as shown in Fig. 3. For example, to provide a thatched roof, the

. straw or other iibers may be cut to the desired length and fed to the compacting unit A in parallel relationship. The plunger I6 will then press the straws or fibers through the channel I4 in a continuing parallel relationship, in which relationship they will be sewn by the stitching machine B. It `should be noted that such a thatch type of sheetingV will not be waterproof in itself unless it is especially treated, but it will nevertheless be very desirable as a decorative and protective covering for roofs already waterproof.

The pegs 50 may be omitted in forming this thatched rooiing, but if they are small and positioned away from the top or bottom surface of the plunger I6. they will probably be desirable since they will not undesirably distort the appearance of the finished product.

In some instances it may be desired to make a laminated product in which a brous material or mixture is secured to a preformed base sheet such as a woven fabric or a paper felt or the like. This can be accomplished by feeding such a preformed sheet through the channel I4 with the material that is being compacted. This may be done by providing an opening in the receiving portion 39 of the table top I8 and passing the preformed material through said opening and through the channel I4. In that case of course the top of the table top I8 should be spaced sufiiciently below the bottom of the plunger I6 to allow room for the preformed sheet. The preformed sheet may either be drawn off a roll positiond immediately below the bed .39 or may be drawn from a remote source of supply. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig; 12, wherein the bed 39 is provided with a slot ll. The roller frame 'I2 is mounted on the underside of the table for supporting revolubly a roller carrying the flexible web 13 which may be of any suitable material. The web may be fed by the pull of the iinished mat, or feeding means for the roller divisionnwalisrin the channel: i4 or possibly by' --simpiyg inserting slitting knives in said channel lbeyont'l-the positiorrto which' theplunger .iB--is y.thrust-. Another way of accomplishing the same :result isI to provide-the plunger with. projecting kniveswwhich. sever the ilbrous material along longitudinally extending linesas it is compacted. 'The material may also be divided along translverse;.;lines .byinserting transversely extending .separating-bars or plates which will pass through the-channel it with the compacted material; A combination oi' the longitudinal divisions or slit- .ters and the; transversely extending divisions will ,result in separately formed l.slabs which may be tofa suitable size for shinglesA oreo'ther covering materiali ilnstead of being fiat. the compacted sheet may .be corruaatedby providing a channelie of cor- ,rugatedcrosssection as .shown in Fig. 6. Such `a channel maybe built up from a plurality-of members 618, 836, and 63l,as seen in Fig. 6. or it may-be cast in one, piece as may most other special forms. The plate Sie has been shown in section to indicate thatii desired it can be ex- .tended to form the bed- 39. Of course the chan- .nel and the resulting sheet. may be given any other cross sectional shape, and the plunger will be shaped with a cross section corresponding to that of the channel 6 Id.4

There. are many other?. shapes and many other corresponding products that may be made by a compacting unit such as that shown in Fig. 2. lwhen it is .not practical to use the stitching machine' B with the products formed by the compacting unit, the material supplied' to said unit will probably comprise a ma'stic or cementitious mixture-which will retain its'shape well after extrusicnjrom the channel it. Among the prhducts which can be `formed are pipes, pipe halves, bars, and the like, .for which suitable channel blocks have been illustrated in Figs. '1, 8 and 9.

In Fig'. '1 the channel-broek Hs, which may be built up of two halves if desired, is provided with a plurality of longitudinal channels 'iid which have been illustrated as circular in cross section, although they could be square or could have any other cross sectional shape. Within each 'of the channels 'H4 is positioned a core 120 which may be supported by short knife-edged fins 12|. The cores 120 are preferably tapered to apoint at their ends to facilitate the feeding of the fibrous material into them. The plunger of course would include a plurality of plunger elements, each'of approximately the size of the passage 1M which would press the material into these passages. 'I'he plunger elements may be annular and extend beyond the beginning of the cores 120, or they may be solid, the cores 120 being positioned entirely beyond the stroke of the plunger. With the channel member shown in Fig. 8, there are a plurality of channels 8M' semicircular in cross section and formed in a base plate 8i8. A top plate 836 may be'provided which is either ilat to form half rounds, or is 'or pipe coverings or the like.

eeen-.cee

provided@ with core-like' 'ribs un :tomtom half pipes. It should be realized that all of these special shapes may be used individualiy or joined together to form mats, or, in the 'case ot'liali' pipes and thelike, `ioined in pairs 'to form pipes In Fig; 9 is shown a channel member similar to that shown in Fig. 7 except that the channels M4 are -smallerin-diameter andthe cores 12| have been omitted. -The channels in Figs. 7, 8

and 9-m'ay be clcser togetherif desired. .A chan- `nel member such :is-shown` infFig. 9 wouldfforfm solid bars or rods.'and the channels 1M may Abe provided. with any desired cross section., such :fas square or round. It should be understood that .in every instance where a channel of-'spcial shape is provided, the plunger'should-be;correL spondingly shaped. Thus, for the Fig. 9 chan- I 'nel the plunger structure may include a base il/ 'as seenin Fig.- 11 from which extend a plus rality oi' individual plunger elements 92| adapted to fit snugly'or loosely into the channels M4.

.reduced rfront The front end of lthe plunger elements 4maybe tull size or may be reduced as shown at Qn'to .produce a nested effect. It may be mentioned that each type of plunger may have a similar portion with or without 'the pegs Eil, and with the thicker rear portion of a sizeto cut oil the straggling fibers or to allow a thin layer oi them to remain. In Fig .10fis shown a multi-channel unit for .forming a plurality of sheets at once. This untt has three channelsii tangular cross section any cross section or one or each could havela which are shown of rec:

. ierent cross section. The plunger wouldot course have three correspondingly shaped plunger' elements. The three sheets formed'infthis way could be kept separate or simply sewnto@ gether by unit B or pressed together as by rollers and, if desired, sewn subsequently. Also some plastic or loose material could be injected between them, 'as by an extrusion nozzle, or a. liquid could be sprayed between them.

A primary characteristic of the endless coniveyors il which operate to feed to the=iibers the dinerent types of compacting arrangements: is the automatic accommodation of the feed tothe demands of the compacting chamber. With such a feed, no jamming of the apparatus. is pcssible.

Of course, the plastic sheets .may be ofany desired thickness in order to obtain a product having diderent uses such as tiles, pavement slabs. linoleum sheeting and the like. By providing the plastic sheets of unlike color, novel ornamental eects can be produced by the alternation or the colo making up the completed laminated product.

I claim:

l.. The method of compacting compressible material and simultaneously applying said material upon a :flexible backing web which comprises feed ing the flexible backing web to a loading station,

depositing between spaced-apart endless conveyor belts disposed to form a receiving hopper for feeding successive charges of the material onto said loading station and reciprocatingly compact` ing the successive charges of the compressible material at the loading station to obtain a coherent mass loit said material supported by said flexible backing web.

2. The method of 'compacting compressible ilbrous material and simultaneously applyingsaid material upon a nexible backing web which comthough they could have 7 prises feeding the flexible backing web to a loading station. depositing between spaced-apart endless conveyor belts disposed to form a receiving hopper for feeding successive charges of fibrous material onto said loading station, reciprocatingly compacting the successive charges of the compressible material at the loading station to obtain a coherent mass of said material supported by said flexible backing web. and stitching said fibrous material onto said backing web.

3. The me'thod of`l compacting compressible elongate fibrous material and simultaneously applying said material upon a flexible backing web whichl comprises feeding the flexible backing web to a loading station. feeding the fibrous material without maceration and depositing between spaced-apart endless conveyor belts disposed to form a receiving hopper for feeding successive charges of fibrous material onto said loading station, reciprocatingly compacting the successive charges of aligned fibrous material to obtain a coherent mass of material supported by said flexible backing web, stitching said fibrous material onto said backing web and applying adhesive to said composite product of fibrous material and flexible backing web therefor.

4. The method of compacting elongate brous material and simultaneously applying said material upon a flexible backing which comprises feeding the flexible backing to a loading station, depositing successive charges of fibrous elongate material thereon without maceration and in a substantially aligned state, compacting the successive charges of fibrous material to obtain a coherent mass of material supported by said ilexible backing, and cupping each charge of material and nesting it with respect to the previous charge while maintaining the general alignment of the fibrous material. l

5. Sheet forming apparatus comprising a loading station. spaced-apart endless conveyor belts disposed to form a receiving hopper for feeding successive charges of material to said loading station. means for feeding a flexible backing to said loading station on to which said charges oi material are deposited. and reciprocating plunger means for uniting the successive charges of material to obtain a coherent mass of material supported by said flexible backing.

6. Sheet forming apparatus comprising a loading station, spaced-apart endless conveyor belts disposed to form a receiving hopper for feeding successive charges of fibrous material to said loading station. means for feeding a flexible base to said loading station on to which said charges.

of material are deposited. reciprocating plunler means for compacting the successive charges of material to obtain a coherent mass of material supported by said flexible backing. and means for stitching said laminated product at a plurality of displaced points. i

7. Apparatus for forming products of denite shape from a suitable elongate brous raw material. including a compacting unit having a channel and a reciprocating plunger for forcing 'said material into and through said channel in its substantially original alignment, the front end of said plunger being of reduced crosssection to cup and nest successive charges of thej' material in a direction transverse to said alignment and means for feeding a flexible backing intq said channel yfor supporting the compacted fibrous material.

8. Sheet forming apparatus including a cornpacting unit for compacting elongate fibrous material into a sheet, and including a channel having the cross section of the desired sheet and a reciprocating plunger for forcing the material into and through said channel and compacting it therein, endless conveying means for feeding said fibrous material to said channel lnits substantially elongate alignment. means for feeding a flexible support for said fibrous 'material into s'aid channel. and a stitching machine receiving the sheet from said compacting unit and forming a plurality of parallel lines of stitches therein extending longitudinally of the sheet and substantially transversely to the elongate fibrous material, the front end of said plunger being of reduced cross section to cup and nest successive charges of the material.

ALBERT C. FISCHER.

REFERENCES crran The following references are-of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

